Maximum Ride All Over Again - Part II
by Jezabel Raewin
Summary: Welcome to the sequel of my story Maximum Ride All Over Again. In Part II, the flock, Dr. M, Ella, and Jeb read Schools Out - Forever. Join us for the Maximum Ride. Rated T.
1. Getting Settled

**Maximum Ride All Over Again – Part II**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Maximum Ride, James Patterson does.

**WOO-HOO! Let's get this started shall we?**

MAX POV

After a short flight with Fang, I was fairly certain I could tackle the next book. I knew I wouldn't break down like I did during the first one, but I also remembered what happened in the next bit of our lives. All of it came in like I was watching a movie of our lives in 30 seconds… Ari fighting Fang… Anne's house… discovering Warp Drive… My Eraser flashes… _school_… the beach part deux… Disney… me getting swapped with Max II… I felt a wing brush my arm.

"We can do it," Fang told me as we soared above the trees and the mini mountains that were around us. Our house was nestled between Mom's house and Lake Mead – our favorite flock hang-out. It also wasn't far from the Grand Canyon.

Fang always knew what to say, how to cut to the chase and spit out what was really bothering you. I loved him for that.

"As long as you're with me," I said. "I can make it through anything." His smile lit up my world.

"I don't know if I can wait to tell them," he said with a sigh.

I laughed. "Oh, it'll be fine," I told him. "Just think about their faces when they find out."

"I can't," he muttered into the wind. "I only see yours."

Well if that doesn't melt your heart… "Come on, Birdboy," I said as we landed in front of our home. "Let's go tackle the next book."

"About time you got back!" Nudge yelled. "Iggy fixed snacks, but wouldn't let me help, and Angel was off in her room with Total. Gasman's been in his room laughing since you left and I'm about to go crazy!"

"Calm down, a sec," Fang said, putting his hand on her shoulder. She took a deep breath. "Now. _Why?_"

"Because I want to read. But they wouldn't let me. And we don't have many books."

"Well we can read now, sweetie," I said as I heard Mom and Jeb pull into our drive. "Go round everyone up, _nicely_ and meet in the living room."

We'd been here for less than twelve hours and already it felt like home. I was so glad Fang had come across this place. It was perfect. We'd been working on it some nights while the flock crashed at my moms. The walls were all painted in welcoming colors with a sponge technique. Each room a different color. The kitchen wasn't state of the art, but Iggy had spent the morning getting used to it.

Our individual rooms were connected to the one beside it. Our house had two stories. The kids on the first floor, Fang and I up top. Total had called our rooms the 'nests.' I'd rolled my eyes.

There were two bathrooms on the main floor and two up top.

When Ella came running into the house, her mouth was open as she took it all in. "You guys fixed this place up?" She asked and I laughed.

"Just minor stuff," I answered. "Now come on, your birdfriend's got snacks for us in the living room." I shoved her butt into the room.

Mom and Jeb followed behind us, Mom giving me a kiss on the cheek as she passed.

Fang and I let them lead us into the room. I entangled my fingers with his and leaned my head on his shoulder. "Let's do this," I muttered and he chuckled.

"Whatever you say, Maximum," He said, gripping my hand tighter and kissing the top of my head.

**AN: **

**Welcome, my lovely readers to the second installment of MRAOA. :D For those of you who have no idea what just happened… go check out the first one. That should help. For those of you who have returned to me, **_**welcome back!**_** Leave a review and tell me what you think and what you want most to happen in this one.**

**Yours featherly,**

**~Jezebel Raewin**


	2. Chapters 1, 2, and 3

"You ready for more fun?" Iggy asked, rubbing his hands together as I opened the book with a sigh.

Ella rubbed his arm, knowing more of our past was going to come out. I was glad that Iggy had my sister.

I was more glad that I had Fang by my side to stay.

**Part One: No Parents, No School, No Rules**, I read.

"Well that does sound fun," Ella said with a slight smile. I grimaced.

"It's not _all_ it's cracked up to be," Nudge said, surprising mom and Ella. I sent a small smile her way.

**Chapter 1:**

**Sweeping, swooping, soaring, air-current thrill rides – there's nothing better. For miles around, we were the only things in the infinite, wide-open, clear blue sky. You want an adrenaline rush? Try tucking your wings in, dive-bombing for about a mile straight down, then **_**whoosh!**_** Wings out, grab an air current like a pit bull, and hang on for the ride of your life. God, **_**nothing**_** is better, more fun, more exciting.** "Sounds like a rollercoaster!" Ella said, her eyes lighting up.

** Okay, we were mutant freaks, we were on the lam, but man, flying – well, there's a reason people always dream about it.**

** "Oh, my gosh!" the Gasman said excitedly. He pointed. "A UFO!"** Gazzy snickered with an evil grin on his face.

** I silently counted to ten. There was nothing where the Gasman had pointed. As usual. "That was funny the first fifty times, Gazzy," I said. "It's getting old." **"It was kind of annoying," Nudge said, but Gazzy was unfazed. Angel laughed.

"I thought it was funny." She said.

** He cackled, several wingspans away from me. There's nothing like an eight-year-old's sense of humor. **"Boys," Mom said, throwing a caring glance toward the Gasman.

** "Max? How long till we get to DC?" asked Nudge, pulling up closer to me. She looked tired – we'd had one long, ugly day. Well, **_**another **_**long ugly day in a whole series of long, ugly days. If I ever have a good, easy day, I'd probably freak out.**

** "Another hour? Hour and a half?" I guessed.**

** Nudge didn't say anything. I cast a glance at the rest of my flock. Fang, Iggy, and I were holding steady, but we had mucho de stamina. I mean, the younger set also had stamina, especially compared to dinky little nonmutant humans. **"And what's that supposed to mean?" Ella said with a huff, crossing her arms. Iggy laughed and threw an arm around her. **But even they gave out eventually.**

** Here's the deal – for anybody new on this trip. There are six of us: Angel, who's six; **"Nine!" protested Angel. **Gasman, age eight; **"Eleven!" interjected the Gasman. **Iggy, who's fourteen, and blind; **"seventeen and _conditionally _blind, thank you." **Nudge, eleven; **"Fourteen," said my little diva. **Fang and me (Max), we're fourteen too. **"Technically, we're eighteen now, but whatever," I said and mom laughed. **We escaped from the lab where we were raised, were given wings and other assorted powers. They want us back – badly. But we're not going back. Ever. **

** I shifted Total to my other arm, glad he didn't weigh more than twenty pounds. He roused slightly, then draped himself across my arm and went back to sleep, the wind whistling through his black fur. Did I want a dog? No. Did I need a dog? Also no. We were six kids running for our lives, not knowing where our next meal was coming from. Could we afford to feed a dog? Wait for it – **_**no. **_"Well I'm sorry I was _such _I burden on you," Total said, wings all ruffled. "It's not as if being toted around by you was such a pleasure all the time either."

"Oh, calm down, Total," Nudge said with a light laugh. "We love you, why don't you go patrol the yard for a bit?"

He snorted and settled down in Angel's lap.

** "You okay?" Fang cruised up alongside me. His wings were dark and almost silent, life Fang himself.**

** "In what way?" I asked. I mean, there was the headache issue, the chip issue, the **_**Voice-in-my-head-constantly**_** issue, my healing bullet wound. . . . "Can you be more specific?"**

** "Killing Ari." **"Didn't mention that one, Max," Iggy said lightly and I stuck my tongue out pointlessly.

** My breath froze in my throat. Only Fang could cut right to the heart of the matter like that. Only Fang knew me that well and went that far.**

** When we'd been escaping from the Institute, in New York, Erasers and whitecoats had shown up, of course. **_**God forbid**_** we should make a clean getaway. Erasers, if you don't know already, are wolflike creatures who have been chasing us constantly since we escaped from the lab, or School as we call it. One of the Erasers had been Ari. We'd fought, as we'd fought before, and then suddenly, with no warning, I was sitting on his chest staring at his lifeless eyes, his broken neck bent at an awkward angle.**

** That was twenty-four hours ago.**

** "It was you or him," Fang said calmly. "I'm glad you picked you."**

** I let out a deep breath. Erasers simpled everything up: They had no qualms about killing, so you had to lose your squeamishness about it too. But Ari had been different. I'd recognized him, remembered him as a little kid back at the school. I knew him. **

** Plus there was that last, awful bellow from Ari's father, Jeb, echoing after me again and again as I flew through the tunnels:**

** "You killed your own brother!"**

I handed the book to Fang. "Well that's a great first chapter, Max," the Gasman said rolling his eyes.

**Chapter 2:**

**Of course, Jeb was a lying, cheating manipulator, so he might have just been yanking my chain. **I tried to send an apologetic glance towards Jeb, but he just shrugged and waved it away. **But his anguish after he'd discovered his dead son had sounded real. **

** And even though I loathed and despised Jeb, I still felt as though I had an anvil on my chest.** "That doesn't ever really go away, does it?" I whispered, and slumped against Fang. He rubbed my arm as he continued to read.

_**You had to do it, Max. You're still working toward the greater good. And nothing can interfere with that. Nothing can interfere with your mission to save the world.**_

__**I took another deep breath through clenched jaws. **_**Geez, Voice. Next you'll be telling me that to make an omelet I have to break a few eggs.**_

** I sighed. Yes, I have a Voice inside my head, I mean, another one besides my own. I'm pretty sure that if you look up the word **_**nuts**_** in the dictionary, you'll find my picture.** "Dictionaries don't have pictures," Ella said amidst the laughter. I stuck my tongue out at her.

"Well, if they did," I said, "You can be assured that I'd be in it in a few different places."** Just another fun feature of my mutant-bird-kid-freak package. **

** "No, that's okay," I said. Total weighed almost half of what Angel weighed – I didn't know how she'd carried him as far as she had. "I know," I said, brightening. "Fang will take him."**

** I gave my wings an extra beat and surged up over Fang, our wings sweeping in rhythm. "Here," I said, lowering Total. "Have a dog." Vaguely Scottie-ish in size and looks, Total wiggled a bit, then quickly settled into Fang's arms. He gave Fang a little lick, and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from snickering at Fang's expression.** "Har har," Fang muttered to everyone's laughter. I smiled.

** I sped up a bit, flying out in front of the flock, feeling an excitement overshadowing my fatigue and the dark weight of what had happened. We were headed to new territory – and we might even find our parents this time. We had escaped the Erasers and the whitecoats – our former "keepers"- again. We were all together and no one was badly wounded. **"Way to jinx it all, Max," Iggy said, and I paled remembering what happened next. Mom and Ella, noticing my complexion, groaned and were instantly worried. Jeb sighed. Fang kept reading. **For this brief moment, I felt free and strong, as if I was starting fresh, all over again. We **_**would**_** find our parents – I could feel it.**

** I was feeling . . . I paused, trying to name this sensation.**

** I felt kind of optimistic. Despite everything.**

_**Optimism is overrated, Max,**_** said the Voice. **_**It's better to face reality head-on. **_"Don't listen to him – her – it? Oh, whatever! Don't listen to the Voice, Max. Optimism is a great thing," Mom said and I laughed, nodding. I was slowly learning that it was okay to think positively.

** I wondered if the Voice could see me rolling my eyes, from the inside.**

Fang passed the book over Iggy to Ella

**Chapter 3**

**It had gotten dark hours ago. He should have heard by now. **"I _would _get the chapter that's not directly about you," Ella complained, then continued to read, unable to hide her curiosity. **The fearsome Eraser paced around the small clearing, and then suddenly the static in his ear made him wince. He pressed the earpiece of his receiver and listened.**

** What he heard made him smile, despite feeling like crap, despite having a rage so fierce it felt as if it were going to burn him up from the inside out. **"So they were tracking us even then?" Nudge asked – then nodded to herself. "What the scientists in Germany said makes more sense now."

"So the chip was being used to track you? So why didn't they just do that to start with?" Ella asked.

"I dunno," I answered.

** One of his men saw the expression on his face and motioned the others to be quiet. He nodded, said "Got it" into his mouthpiece, and tapped off his transmitter.**

** He looked over at his troop. "We got our coordinates," he said. He tried to resist rubbing his hands together in glee but couldn't'. "They're headed south-southwest and passed Philadelphia thirty minutes ago. The Director was right – they're going to Washington DC."**

** "How solid is this info?" one of his Erasers asked.**

** "From the horse's mouth," he said, starting to check his equipment. He rolled his shoulders, grimacing, then popped a pain pill.**

** "Which horse?" asked another Eraser, standing up and fastening a night-vision monocle over one eye.**

** "Let's just say it's insider information," the leader of the Erasers said, hearing the joy in his own voice. He felt his heart speed up with anticipation, his fingers itching to close around a skinny bird-kid neck. Then he started to **_**morph,**_** watching his hands.**

** The frail human skin was soon covered with tough fur; ragged claws erupted from his fingertips. Morphing had hurt at first – his lupine DNA wasn't seamlessly grafted into his stem cells, like the other Erasers'. So there were some kinks to be worked out, a rough, painful transition period he'd had to go through.** "Did you know he went through all that?" Gasman asked Jeb curiously, noticing his sudden stillness. Jeb shook his head to start with, then sighed and shrugged – it was something he'd come to learn about long after there was anything to be done for it.

** But he wasn't complaining. It would all be worth it the moment he got his claws on Max and choked the life right out of her. He imagined the look of surprise on her face, how she would struggle. Then he'd watch the light slowly fade out of her beautiful brown eyes. **"I really don't like the sound of that," Mom said shaking her head as if to get the image out. **She wouldn't think she was so hot then. Wouldn't look down on him or, worse, **_**ignore**_** him. Just because he wasn't a mutant freak like them, he'd been nothing to her. All she cared about was the flock this and the flock that. **"I did notice him though," I said. "He was a cute little kid, a normal kid." **That was all his father, Jeb, cared about too.**

** Once Max was dead, that would all change.**

** And he, Ari, would be the number-one son. **_**He'd come back from the dead for it. **_

As Ella passed the book to Nudge, she posed a question.

"Did Ari know that you two were really siblings at this point?" she asked.

I just blinked. My brilliant answer? "Uhh….. Probably. I think he might have."

Nudge eagerly opened up the book and instantly began to read her chapter.

**AN: **

**Hello Everybody! I hope 2013 has been treating you all well. ^_^ I needed to some adjusting to my other stories before I got this one under way. But have no fear for here is the first actual chapter to my second in my series! **

**For those who care: I've estimated about 53 chapters are needed to complete MRAOA-Part II. That may change, but it won't be much if it does. **

**For those who don't … well … why are you still reading this? Huh? :P**

**Review and tell me your favorite part in SO-F or if you have anything you want the flock to do in their spare time, and if you do, I'll reward you with two new chapters (Aside from this one)!**

**Yours featherly,**

**~Jezabel Raewin**


	3. Chapters 4, 5, and 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride – All rights belong to James Patterson

**Chapter 4** Nudge read.

**By dusk we'd crossed over a chunk of Pennsylvania, and a thin spit of ocean twined bellow us, between New Jersey and Delaware. "Look at this, kids, we're learning geography!" Fang called out with mock excitement.** "Did you really not learn geography at the E-house?" Ella asked and Nudge bounced in her chair. "Here! Here!" she said before eagerly continuing.** Since we'd never been to school, most of what we'd learned was from television or the Internet. And, these days, from the little know-it-all Voice in my head.** "Ooh," Ella said. "Right."

** Soon we'd be over Washington DC. Which was pretty much where my plan stopped. For tonight, all I was worried about was food and a place to sleep.** "You'd never guess that that night we slept in a hospital and the next in beds of our own," Gasman said, causing those of us in the know to chuckle then fall silent at the memories of Camp Agent.** Tomorrow I would have time to study the info we'd gotten from the Institute. I'd been so thrilled when we'd hacked into the Institute's computers. Pages of information about our actual parents had scrolled across the screen. I'd managed to print out a bunch of it before we'd been interrupted.**

** Who knew – by this time tomorrow we might be on someone's doorstep, about to come face-to-face with the parents who had lost us so long ago. **"Not exactly how you imagined it, I suppose?" Fang asked. I shook my head. **It sent shivers down my spine. **

** I was tired. We were all tired. SO when I did an automatic 360 and saw a weird dark cloud heading toward us, my groan was deep and sincere.**

** "Fang! What's that? Behind us, at ten o'clock." **"Not good, whatever happens next is _not good_," Mom surmised.

** He frowned, checking it out. "Too fast for a storm cloud. Too small, too quiet for choppers. Not birds –too lumpy." He looked at me. "I give up. What is it?"**

** "Trouble," I said grimly. "Angel! Get out of the way. Guys, heads up! We've got company!"**

** We swung around to face **_**whatever **_**was coming. Fast!**

** "Flying monkeys?" The Gasman called out a guess. "Like **_**The Wizard of Oz?**_**"**

** It dawned on me then. "No," I said tersely. "Worse. **_**Flying Erasers." **_"Of course they are," Ella said as Nudge handed the book to the Gasman. "Because, they're always being upgraded to match whatever you're doing – right? Ugh, this is twisted."

I nodded, trying to stay calm and collected – but even though I knew what was coming and knew that it was all going to end right, I couldn't stop the helpless feeling that had taken root within me once I realized I couldn't do anything to help Fang. I felt his arms wrap around me and barely noticed the Gasman starting to read.

**Chapter 5** he said.

**Yep. Flying Erasers. These Erasers had wings, which was a new and revolting development on the Eraser front. **"Hard to believe it," Mom said, covering her mouth as Gazzy read. **Half-wolf, half-human, and now half-avian? That couldn't be a happy mix. **"Obviously, it wasn't, as they were discontinued and 'retired'," Nudge said, disgusted. **And they were headed our way at about eighty miles an hour.**

** "Erasers, version 6.5," Fang said.**

_**Split up, Max. Think 3-D,**_** said my Voice.**

** "Split up!" I ordered. "Nudge! Gazzy! Nine o'clock! Angel, up top. Move it! Iggy and Fang, flank me from below! Fang, ditch the dog!" **"Sorry, Total," I said to the black furball who was baring his teeth at me, earning a few laughs amid the tense atmosphere.

** "Nooo, Fang!" screeched Angel.**

** The Erasers slowed as we fanned out, their huge, heavy looking wings backbeating the air. It was almost pitch-black now, with no moon and no city lights below. I was still able to see their teeth, their pointed fangs, their smiles of excitement. **_**They were on a hunt - it was party time! **_"Fight mode, activated," Gasman added, changing his voice to sound like a robot commander,

_** Here we go,**_** I thought, feeling adrenaline speeding up my heart. I launched myself at the biggest one, swinging my feet under me to smash against his chest. He rolled back but righted himself and came at me again, claws slashing the air.**

** I bobbed, feeling his paws whip right past my face. I turned sharply just in time to have a hard, hairy fist crash into my head.**

** I dropped ten feet quickly, then surged back up on the offensive.**

** In my peripheral vision, I saw Fang clap both hands hard against an Eraser's furry ears. The Eraser screamed, holding his head, and started to lose altitude. Fang had Total **_**in his backpack**_**. He rolled out of harm's way, and I took his place, catching another Eraser in the mouth with a hard side kick.** "Good teamwork," Jeb applauded.

** I grabbed one of his arms, twisting it violently in back of him. It was harder in the air, but then I heard a loud **_**pop. **_Mom and Ella winced.

** The Eraser screamed and dropped, careening downward until he caught himself and flew clumsily away, one arm dangling.**

** Above me an Eraser lashed out at Nudge, but she dodged out of the way.**

_**Max? Size isn't everything**_**, said the Voice. **Gazzer handed the book off to Angel.

**Chapter 6** she read.

**I got it! The Erasers were bigger and heavier, their wings almost twice as long as ours. But in the air, those were liabilities. **"Well, _obviously,_" said Nudge, Gazzy and Iggy in unison.

** Panting, I ducked as an Eraser swung a black-booted foot at my side, catching me in the ribs but not too hard.**

** I zipped in and dealt out some powerful punches of my own, knocking his head sideways, then I flitted out of reach.**

** Compared to the Erasers, we were nimble little stinging wasps, and they were clunky, slow, awkward flying cows. **"Pretty accurate description," Jeb said. I snickered.

"I like Fang's better," I said causing Fang to turn and glare at me, and the rest to just wonder what it was.

** Two Erasers ganged up on me, but I shot straight up like an arrow, just in time for them to smash into each other.**

** I laughed as I saw Gazzy roll completely over like a fighter plane, smacking an Eraser in the jaw on the turn. The Eraser swung a hard punch, landing it on Gazzy's thigh, and Gazzy winced, then launched a side kick at the Eraser's hand which snapped back. **"Those were the good ol' days," Gazzy said.

"What? The days when we could actually injure the Erasers pretty easily?" Iggy asked.

"Yup."

"You call that _pretty easy?_" Ella asked. "Do I even want to know what comes after them?"

I shrugged. "Probably not, but you will if you stick with us for the readings."

"Ugh," Nudge said, "remember the Flyboys? Or the robot clones from Antarctica?"

"Why don't we stick with the adventure at hand?" Mom suggested warily, not wanting to get too far ahead yet.

** How many of them were there? I couldn't tell – everything was happening at once. Ten?**

_**Nudge,**_** my Voice said, and then I heard Nudge cry out.**

** An Eraser had her tight in his arms, his fangs moving toward her neck. His teeth were just starting to scrape her skin when I dropped on him from above. I wrapped one arm around his neck and yanked hard, hearing him gag and choke. Grabbing my wrist with my other hand, I yanked harder until he let Nudge drop away from him. **Nudge shivered delicately, rubbing her neck as if she could feel his teeth there even now.

** "Scat!" I told her, and, coughing, she swooped away from the fight. My Eraser was still struggling but starting to weaken. "You better get your guys out of here," I snarled into his ear. "We're kicking your hairy butts." **"As you always would be – when not beyond reasonably outnumbered," Jeb said, trying for the 'proud parent' façade. I narrowed my eyes, not appreciating his knowing that I _could_ be overcome.

"Wow, you're just gonna let him say you can't take on the world like that?" Ella said, incredulous.

"Just because I didn't say anything doesn't mean I like it," I said. "I may have saved the world, but I was captured a few times in the process. I know I can't take on _everyone,_ but I _can_ take on more than most."

** "You're gonna fall now," I heard Angel say in a normal voice. I swung my head to see her gravely watching an Eraser who looked confused, paralyzed. Angel shifted her gaze to the dark water below. Fear entered the Eraser's eyes, and his wings folded. He dropped like a rock.** "Though, with Angel, we can take on absolutely _everyone,_ right?" I said.

Angel beamed at me then continued to read.

** "You're getting scary, you know that?" I said to Angel, not really kidding. I mean, making an Eraser drop right out of the sky **_**just by telling him to –**_** jeez.**

_**And Iggy, **_**said the Voice. I veered off to help Iggy, who was in tight hand-to-hand with an Eraser.**

** "Ig!" I called, as he grabbed the Eraser's shirt.**

** "Max, **_**get out of here!"**_** Iggy yelled, and released the shirt, letting himself fall quickly out of reach.**

** I had time to think **_**Uh-oh,**_** and then the small explosive Iggy had stuck down the Eraser's shirt detonated, leaving an ugly gaping hole in his chest. Shrieking, the Eraser plummeted heavily downward. **

** And how did Iggy manage to stash his seemingly endless supply of explosives on his person without my even having a clue? Got me. **

** "You . . . are . . . a . . . fridge . . . with wings," Fang ground out, punching an Eraser hard with every word. "We're . . . freaking . . . ballet . . . dancers."**

_**Take a deep breath, Max,**_** said my Voice, and I obeyed without question.**

** At that moment, I felt a blow to my back, between my wings, that knocked the wind out of me. I rolled, belly-up, using the oxygen I'd just gotten, trying to suck in more air.**

** Whirling, I snapped both feet out in a hard kick into the Eraser's face, then froze in shock. **_**Ari!**_"That's – wait – what?" Ella said, having never met him herself she must have been so confused. I laughed airily.

"Let's just say I didn't knock him out for too long, okay El?" I asked and she looked back and forth between, me, Fang, Jeb, and Iggy, before sighing and focusing on the story.

__**He wheeled backward and I floundered away, wheezing and hoping I wouldn't pass out. **_**Ari! But he was dead – I'd killed him. Hadn't I?**_

** Ari lunged at Fang, just as I yelled **_**"Fang!" **_**Ari managed to take a swipe at Fang's side, shredding his jacket. **Fang winced and I wrapped one of my arms around him, holding him close to me.

** Drawing back, gasping, I took stock of the situation. The few remaining Erasers were falling back, retreating. Below, I saw a white splash as an Eraser hit the ocean. That had to hurt. **Iggy, Gasman and Fang all flinched – Fang had told me about their dive to the ocean before meeting us after Germany. The three of them had smacked water pretty hard.

** Now it was just Ari against us. He looked around, then fell back as well, closer to his squad.**

** The six of us slowly regrouped as Ari began to fly clumsily away, his enormous wings working hard to keep his heavy body aloft. His squad surrounded him, a bunch of huge, hairy crows gone wrong.**

** "We'll be back!" he snarled.**

** It was really Ari's voice. **

** "Boy, you just can't kill people like you used to," said Fang. **"Ain't that the truth?" I muttered and earned worried laughs from Mom and Ella and snickers from the others.

**AN:**

**I hope you enjoyed this week's segment of MRAOA – Part II! Coming up next? The Hospital and the Agents. **

**For those of you that are new on this adventure, it's about to get really crazy up in here, so hold on tight. **

**Until next time,**

**~Jezabel Raewin**


	4. Chapters 7, 8, and 9

Maximum Ride All Over Again – Part II; Chapter 4

**Disclaimer – I do not own Maximum Ride, all rights belong to James Patterson.**

Mom took the book from Angel lightly and warily started to read. The tension in the room, though lowered after the battle concluded, started rising as the flock remembered the tense hours to come. Fang wrapped an arm around me and pulled me closer.

**Chapter 7**

**We hovered in place for several minutes, waiting to see if there would be a second attack. For the moment we seemed in the clear, and I took the time to catalogue our injuries. Fang was flying awkwardly, his arm pressed against his side. **

** "I'm fine," he said curtly, noticing me watching him. **I huffed. "Liar," I muttered. He rolled his eyes and rubbed my arm.

** "Angel? Gazzy? Nudge? Report," I said. **"What about Iggy?" Ella asked and Iggy smirked, crossing his arms. "Yeah, what about Iggy?" He repeated. I rolled my eyes and stuck out my tongue muttering whatever.

** "Leg hurts, but I'm okay," said the Gasman. **

** "I'm fine," said Angel. "And so are Total and Celeste." Celeste was the small angel-dressed stuffed bear Angel had – well, let's say – been given at a toy store in New York. **Angel grinned sheepishly.

** "I'm okay," said Nudge, but sounded whipped. **

** "My nose," said Iggy, pressing it hard to stop the bleeding. "But no biggie." **"No one asked you, Ig," Fang said, causing Gazzer to laugh.

** "Okay, then," I said. "We're almost to DC, and it should be easy to get lost in another big city. We good to go?" **"When are you _ever _good to go?" Ella asked.

** Everyone nodded, and we swung in a tight, graceful arc to return to our flight path.**

** "So . . . what's with the flying Erasers?" Iggy said a few minutes later.**

** "I'm guessing a new prototype," I said. "But, man, they're failures. They were having a hard time flying and fighting at the same time." **"The very first batch," Jeb nodded. "They were the first Eraser experiments to have wings and the Director thought they could take you. She greatly underestimated you." I looked at him in curiosity as he continued. "Of course, that's why I had to let her go through with it, because they were no match for you, nothing other than sparring practice."

I let that sink in as Mom read on. So he really was, if nothing else, _trying_ to be on the lookout, still a pain, but he was only helping us get better at what we were doing – I suppose he isn't _all _bad. Maybe 95.5% bad. But not all bad.

** "Like they'd just learned to fly, you know?" said Nudge. "I mean, compared to hawks, we look clumsy. But compared to those Erasers, we're, like, poetry in motion."**

** I smiled at Nudge's description, silently checking out my own aches and pains.**

** "They were bad fliers," Angel chimed in. "And in their minds, they weren't all **_**Kill the mutants,**_** like they usually are. They were like, **_**Remember to flap!"**_Mom laughed as she read that.

** I laughed at her imitation of a deep, growly Eraser voice. **"I can try, can't I?" Angel said giggling. **"Did you pick up on anything else, Angel?" I asked.**

** "You mean besides dead Ari showing up?" Gazzy said, sounding bummed.**

** "Yeah," I said. Just then I caught a warm updraft and coasted for a minute, enjoying a feeling of pure bliss.**

** "Well, none of them really felt familiar," said Angel, thinking.**

** Having a six-year-old mind reader came in handy. Sometimes I wished Angel's mind reads were a little more specific, or that they'd come when we wanted. Then maybe she'd be able to warn us that an Eraser was about to drop in and say hi. But sometimes she just gave me the willies. Angel was starting to control people with her mind – not just Erasers – and I wasn't sure when she was crossing the line into, say, **_**witchcraft**_**, for instance. **My little mind reader sighed. _I'm sorry, Max._ I heard in my head.

_It's all part of growing up, Ange._ I smiled at her to let her know all was forgiven. She nodded at me from across the room.

** A while later, I realized that Fang wasn't beside me and I looked around to see him below, maybe twenty feet back. He'd been silent, not unusual for him, but now I could see that his flying was ragged and off-balance. His face seemed paler, and his lips were pressed tightly together.**

** I dropped back and swooped down next to him.** "This isn't gonna be good is it?" Ella asked, dreading the next chapter already. Our grim faces told her she was right. _He's okay,_ I told myself again and again. I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly through my nose. Nothing would ever hurt us like this again.

** "What's going on?" I said in my no-nonsense tone. It had never worked on him before, but a girl had to keep trying.**

** "Nothing," he said, but that one word was tight and strained. Which meant he was lying through his teeth.**

** "Fang -," I began, and then saw that the arm pressed against his side was dark and wet. Blood. "Your arm!"**

** "'S not my arm," he muttered. Then his eyes fluttered shut and he started to lose altitude fast.**

_**Really **_**fast. **Mom passed the book to Jeb without a word and took a deep breath staring at Fang. He put a hand in the air and looked at everyone, like he was waving at them. "I'm okay," he said to the room at large, a ghost of a smile playing on his face, only noticeable to those who constantly studied his face. So probably just me.

**Chapter 8**

"**Iggy!" I yelled, as cold panic ripped right through me. **_**Not Fang. Please let Fang be okay.**_Now Fang was smug. "You were worried about me," he whispered. I huffed.

"Of course I was worried about you," I muttered. "Since when have I _not _worried about you?"

"But if I'm not mistaken, this was before you noticed that you loved me, even though I knew you did."

"How did you know when I didn't?"

"Because I knew that there was only one person who could ever love me like I loved them. But now I know that's wrong, because no one could ever love me as much as I love you."

"Oh, get a room," Iggy said loudly, breaking into our little reverie. I felt my face grow hotter than the Sahara. Suddenly aware of the faces on us, and how close our faces were, I coughed and laid my head on his shoulder. Mom and Jeb looked slightly amused while the others were anxiously waiting to get back to the story.

"_Hello!" _Ella said. "Fang is _dying._ Can we please get to the part where he heals?"

I laughed. "That's my cue, I guess," Jeb said and started reading again.

"**Over here!"**

** Then Iggy and I flew beneath Fag, supporting him. I felt Fang's dead weight on me, saw his closed eyes, and suddenly felt as if I couldn't breathe.**

** "Let's land, see what's wrong!" I told Iggy, and he nodded. **"Oh, nothing much, just another typical day with the flock," Mom muttered softly and I smiled at her.

** We flew hard toward the narrow, rocky shore edging the black ocean. Iggy and I landed awkwardly, Fang limp between us. The younger kids scurried over to help us carry him to a flattish, sandier place. **"The beach," Iggy said. "Stuff always happens to us at the beach."

"Stuff happens to us _everywhere,"_ Nudge replied.

"But more so, it seems, at the beach."

"Do tell," Ella said sarcastically with a roll of her eyes, glancing at the book.

"Well there was the first time, with Angel learning to breathe underwater," Iggy said. "Then this – Fang's near death experience. After that came Max's meltdown, then Gasman, Fang and I had multiple battles with Erasers at different beaches. The seal from the arctic – need I go on?" Ella's and Mom's mouths dropped.

"You know, now that you mention it," I said in amazement, then groaned. "We're never going to the beach again. Not anytime soon at least."

The girls whimpered, but I shook my head and motioned for Ella to continue.

_**Stop the bleeding,**_** said the Voice.**

** "What's the matter with him?" Nudge asked, dropping to her knees next to Fang.**

** Checking him out, I saw that Fang's shirt and jacket were soaked with blood, the dark fabric gleaming wetly. I tried to keep my face calm.**

** "Let's just see what we're dealing with here," I said steadily, and quickly unbuttoned Fang's shirt. **

** Now I saw that the shirt was shredded, and beneath it, so was Fang. Ari had managed to do this . . . obscenity.**

** Nudge drew in a quick gasp when she saw the damage, and I looked up. "Nudge, you and Gazzy and Angel rip up a shirt or something. Make strips for bandages."**

** Nudge just stared at Fang.**

** "**_**Nudge!"**_ **I said more firmly, and she snapped out of it. **

** "Uh, yeah. Come on, guys. I have an extra shirt here . . . an' I got a knife. . . ."**

** The three younger kids moved away while Iggy's sensitive hands brushed Fang's skin like butterflies. **"I never told you guys how proud I was of you. It was a crucial moment and you all worked so well and didn't lose your cool," I said, looking at my gang in wonder. They blushed but Nudge spoke up for them.

"We wouldn't be what we are – were? – without you, Max," she said.

** "This feels real bad. **_**Real**_** bad," Iggy said in low voice. "How much blood has he lost?"**

** "A lot," I said grimly. Eve his jeans were soaked with it.**

** "Jus' a scratch," Fang said fuzzily, his eyelids fluttering. **"Liar," I muttered, then stuck my tongue out at him, my mood having greatly increased.

"Actually," Angel started, "it _was_ a scratch. . ." Fang chuckled.

** "Shhh!" I hissed at him. "You should have told us you were hurt!"**

_**Stop the bleeding,**_** the Voice said again.**

** "How?" I cried I frustration.**

** "How what?" Iggy asked, and I shook my head impatiently.**

_**Put pressure on it,**_** said the Voice. **_**Press the cloth over it and lean on the wounds with both hands. Elevate his feet, Max.**_

** "Iggy," I said, "lift Fang's feet. Guys you got those strips ready?"**

** The Gasman handed me a bunch, and I quickly folded them into a pad. Placing it over the gaping slices in Fang's stomach was like putting my finger in a dike to stop a flood, but it was all I had, so I did it. I pressed both my hands over the pad, trying to keep a steady pressure on it.**

** Under Fang's side, the sand was turning dark with his blood.**

** "Someone's coming," said Angel. **"I'm glad," mom said with a sigh of relief. "You obviously need help with this type of injury." I nodded and was filled with a surge of gratitude for the man, he saved Fang for us – for me.

_**Erasers?**_** I looked up to see a man jogging along the shore. It was almost dawn, and seagulls were starting to wheel and cry above the water.**

** The man slowed to a walk when he saw us. He seemed ordinary, but looks could be deceiving, and usually were.**

** "Kids, you okay?" he called. "What are you doing out here so early?" He frowned when he saw Fang, then looked scared when he figured out what all the dark wet stuff was.**

** Before I could say anything, he'd whipped out his cell phone and called 911. **Ella let out a deep breath as Jeb handed me the book, then I took a deep breath, feeling air flow deep into my lungs.

**Chapter 9 **I read.

**I looked down at Fang, then glanced over at Iggy's tight face. In a second I realized we had to suck it up – Fang was hurt bad. We needed outside help. Everything in me wanted to grab Fang, get the flock, and tear out of here, away from strangers and doctors and hospitals. But if I did that, Fang would die.**

** "Max?" The Gasman sounded scared. In the distance, the obnoxious wail of an ambulance siren was drawing closer.**

** "Nudge?" I said, speaking fast. "Take Gazzy and Angel and find a place to hide. We'll go to the hospital. You stay around here, and I'll come back when I can. Quick, before the EMT guys get here." **"Not a smart move," Mom said and I bobbed my head in agreement.

"Thankfully, it doesn't work like I wanted it too," I said. Thankful for once that my plans didn't turn out as expected.

** "No," said the Gasman his eyes on Fang.**

** I stared at him. "What did you say?"**

** "No," he repeated a mulish look coming over his face. "We're not leaving you and Fang and Iggy."**

** "Ex**_**cuse**_** me?" I said, steel in my voice. Fang's blood had soaked the cloth and was seeping between my fingers. "I'm telling you to get out of here." I made myself sound cold as ice.**

** "**_**No,"**_** Gazzy said again. "I don't care what happens – you're not leaving us again."**

** "That's right," said Nudge, crossing her arms over her skinny chest.**

** Angel nodded next to here. Even Total, sitting on the sand by Angel's feet, seemed to bob his head in agreement. **"Seemed to," Total echoed from his place at Angel's feet. "Of course I nodded in agreement." I rolled my eyes and kept reading.

** My mouth opened, but nothing came out. I was stunned –they'd never disobeyed a direct order.**

** I wanted to start shrieking at them, but it was already too late: Two paramedics were running across the sand, holding a body board. The flashing lights of the ambulance made intermittent rosy stripes across all our faces.**

** "Goveryou," I said tightly, **"I'm sorry," Ella interrupted. "What was that?"

"Goveryou," Iggy said.

"I explain if you listen," I told her and she furrowed her brow in confusion but stayed silent.

"**Goveryou," I said tightly, using a secret language that went back to when we were kept in a lab. It was used in cases of extreme emergency when we didn't want anyone to understand us. "Allay. Todo ustedes. Egway." **"So what does that mean?" she persisted.

"It means [**an: Like you thought I was going to put that in here? hah! For the safety of Max and Crew it has been hidden away. It's secret for a reason folks. :P**]," Iggy told her.

"Oooh, okay."

** "No," said the Gasman, his lower lip starting to tremble. "Neckerchu."**

** "What's happened here?" One of the paramedics dropped down next to Fang, already taking out his stethoscope.**

** "Accident," I said, still glaring at Gazzy, Nudge, and Angel.**

** Reluctantly I removed my hands from the soaked pad. Fang's face was white and still.**

** "Accident?" repeated the paramedic, staring at the injury. "With what, a rabid bear?" **"More or less," mom said softly.

** "Kind of," I said tensely. The other paramedic shone a small flashlight into Fang's eyes, and I realized Fang was truly unconscious. My sense of fear and danger escalated: Not only were we about to enter a hospital, which would freak us all out, but it might end up being for nothing.**

** Because Fang could die anyway.**

"At least I didn't die," Fang said. "I'd hate to see what would've happened if I did."

"It wouldn't be pretty," I said as he took the book from my hands.

**AN: **

_Phew. Okay. So, there's another chapter._

_I hope you all enjoyed it, and that I gave you a little glimpse of their future (or past) adventures. Sorry if it got a little mushy for some of you – nearly took part of the Fax out, man alive I've never written such mushy gushy lovey dovey stuff in my life! _

_Please let me know how I did? Leave a review! Please? Yes. Okay. Good._

_Now, it's late, I'm tired, and there's more to write. _

_Until next time,_

_~Jezabel Raewin_


	5. Chapters 10, 11, and 12

MRAOA – Part II

Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride.

Fang read in a calm, steady voice, not as if he was the one dying in the scene.Really, I was glad, cause everything was awful the first time around, a second time was even worse.

**Chapter 10**

**The ambulance felt like a jail cell on wheels.**

** The antiseptic smell inside made my stomach knot with nightmare memories of the School. In the back of the ambulance, I held Fang's cold hand, which now had a saline drip taped into it. I couldn't say anything to the flock, not in front of the EMT, and I was too upset, scared, and mad to come up with anything coherent anyway. **"But what else is new?" Iggy said, causing a few laughs and an eyeroll from me.

** _Is Fang okay?" _I silently asked my Voice. Not that the Voice had ever once answered a direct freaking question. It didn't break the pattern now. **"Well, of course it never answered a direct question," Ella commented. "I mean, you have to figure things out on your own, don't you? Isn't it _your _life and up to you to find out the big stuff?"

I stared at my sister, feeling my mouth dropping.

"What?"

"That was very well said, Ella," Jeb said, a twinkle in his eyes as he looked from her to me.

"Just a shame that your sister didn't catch on as quick as you did," Iggy muttered and I threw a pillow at him.

** "Uh-oh – he's fibrillating," one paramedic said urgently.**

** He pointed to the portable EKG machine, which was going _thump-thump-thump_ very fast. "Get the paddles."**

** "No!" I said loudly, startling everyone. The paramedic held the shock paddles, looking surprised. "That's _always_ how his heart is. It always beats really fast. That's _normal_ for him."**

** I don't know if the paramedic would have used the paddles anyway, but just then we roared into the hospital emergency bay and all was chaos. **"I can imagine," mom said, a frown on her face. "The shock that would give any doctor when you guys are healthy, let alone when one is in a critical state."

** Orderlies ran out with a gurney, the EMT guys started rattling off Fang's stats to a nurse. And then Fang was wheeled out of sight, down a hall and through some doors.**

** I started to follow, but a nurse stopped me.**

** "Let the doctors see him first," she said, flipping a page on her clipboard. "You can give me some information. Now, what's his name? Is he your boyfriend?" **A few snickers from the girls.

** "His name is . . . Nick," I lied nervously. "Nick, um, Ride. He's my brother."** "Ooh," Ella said. "What's worse? Friend-zoned or Family-zoned?"

_"Family_-zoned," Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Angel, and even the Gasman responded (I was really surprised to see Gazzy answer).

"Well," I said. "It worked didn't it?"

** The nurse looked at me, my blond hair and fair skin, and I could tell she was mentally comparing me with Fang – who had black hair, dark eyes, olive skin.**

** "He's all of our brother's," said Nudge ungrammatically. **Nudge groaned. _"Grammar,"_ she muttered, _"_It's not that hard." I gave her an encouraging smile.

** The nurse looked at Nudge, who was black, and at the rest of us, none of whom really matched, except Angel and Gazzy, the only true siblings among us.**

** "We were adopted," I said. "Our parents are . . . missionaries." Excellent! I mentally patted myself on the back. Brilliant! Missionaries! "They're away on a . . . short mission. I'm in charge." **There was a lot of laughter, coming from me as well as everyone.

"On the one hand," I said, "I couldn't come up with anything better at the time."

"On the other?" Iggy asked, playfully.

"I couldn't come up with anything better?"

"You already said that!" Gazzy said. "That doesn't count!"

** A doctor in green jammies **"I think you mean, scrubs," **hurried up to us. "Miss?" he said, looking at me, glancing at all of us. "Could you come with me, right now?"**

** "Think he noticed the wings yet?" I heard Iggy barely murmur.**

** I tapped Iggy twice on the back of his hand. It meant, _You're in charge till I get back. _He nodded and I followed the doctor down the hall, feeling like I was on death row. **"Funny," Nudge said with a smile as Fang passed the book over Iggy to Ella.

"How so?" I asked.

"'Cause we've been on death row, a few times, haven't we?"

"True," I nodded. "I guess this one kind of mellowed it out for me."

**Chapter 11 **Ella started to read before anyone could ask any more questions.

**Walking quickly, the doctor looked at me in that zoo-exhibit way I've become familiar with. **"Hah!" Iggy burst out. "Zoo-exhibit."

"O-ookay," Nudge said, casting a wary, sidelong glance his way. **My heart sank. **

** All of my worst fears were coming true. I could already see the mesh of a big dog crate closing in around me. Those freaking Erasers! I hated them! They always showed up, and when the did, they destroyed everything. **"Wasn't it while I was in the hospital that you had the Eraser-Max moment?" Fang asked.

"You what?" Ella said, trying to see if I would start sprouting fangs or fur.

"It wasn't real, Els," I said, trying to refrain from rolling my eyes. "Real crazy experience though."

** _You have to respect your enemy, Max,_ said the Voice. _Never, ever underestimate them._ _The second you do, they'll squash you. Be smart about them. Respect their abilities, even if they don't respect yours. _**_"_I'm guessing that was _you_, right?" I asked Jeb. He simply smiled sheepishly and blinked at me over top his glasses, just like he used to when I was 10.

"You used to tell us things like that all the time," Iggy said. "Of course, Fang and I thought you were crazy, but . . ." he shrugged and shook his head.

"You listened, and it helped you," Jeb said.

"Sorry, but," Ella interrupted with a cough, "Fang's in critical condition and I'd very much like to hear how the rest of the chapter goes. Can we hold off on the touchy-feely moments till we're done?"

I laughed, and the room complied with Ella's request.

**I swallowed hard. _Whatever._**

** We pushed through heavy double doors and were in a small, tiled, very scary room. Fang was on a gurney.**

** He had a tube going down his throat and more tubes attached to his arms. I pressed my hand to my mouth. I'm not squeamish, but cracked, painful memories of the experiments done on us at the School were seeping into my brain, and I wished that my Voice would keep talking, say something really annoying to distract me.**

** Another doctor and a nurse were standing by Fang. They had cut his shirt and jacket off. The horrible jagged claw wounds in his side were still bleeding.**

** Now that he had me here, the doctor didn't seem to know what to say.**

** "Will – will he be okay?" I asked, feeling as if I were choking. Life without Fang was unimaginable. **

** "We don't know," said one of the doctors, looking very concerned.**

** The woman doctor gestured to Fang. "How well do you know him?"**

** "He's my brother."**

** "Are you – _like_ him?" she asked.**

** "Yes." I set my jaw and kept my eyes on Fang. I felt my muscles tighten, a new unwelcome flood of adrenaline icing its way through my veins. _Okay, first I would slam this little trolley against the nurse's legs. . . . _**

** "So you can help us," the first doctor said, sounding relieved. "'Cause we're not recognizing this stuff. What about his heartbeat?"**

** I looked at the EKG. The blips were fast and erratic.**

** "It should be smoother," I said. "And faster." I snapped my fingers a bunch of times to demonstrate.**

** "Can I . . . ?" the doctor asked, motioning his stethoscope toward me. I nodded warily.**

** He listened to my heart, a look of total amazement on his face.**

** Then he moved his stethoscope over my stomach, in several places. "Why can I hear _air _moving down here?" he asked.**

** "We have air sacs," I explained quietly, feeling as if my throat were closing. My hands tightened into fists by my sides. "We have lungs, but we also have smaller air sacs. And – our stomachs are different. Our bones. Our blood." Gee, pretty much everything.**

** "And you have . . . _wings?" _the second doctor asked in a low voice. I nodded.**

** "You're a human-avian hybrid," the first doctor said.**

** "That's one name for it," I said tightly. As opposed to, say, mutant freak. "I prefer Avian American."**

** I glanced at the nurse, who looked scared and like she'd rather be anywhere but here. I _so_ related.**

** The female doctor became all business. "We're giving him saline, to counter the shock, but he needs blood."**

** "You can't give him hu- regular blood," I said. All the scientific knowledge I'd gleaned over the years from reports and experiments started coming to the surface. "Our red blood cells have nuclei." Like birds'.**

** The doctor nodded. "Get ready to give him a donation," she instructed me briskly. **"Well that would explain why you were a little light-headed when you came back to the waiting room," Angel said as Ella handed the book to Nudge.

"I thought I told you guys what happened back there. . . ?" I said.

"That would be a 'no,'" Iggy said. "But that's okay, we were preoccupied anyway."

"That's true!" Nudge said eagerly, and raised the book. "And I've got it, so can I start reading now?"

I nodded and she started.

**Chapter 12**

**Twenty minutes later, I was two pints lighter and dizzy as a dodo bird from it. **"You really shouldn't have given that much," Mom said, worriedly. "You really need to eat something now." I waved her off, as Fang spoke up.

"I'm kind of disappointed that I didn't get warp drive from your blood," he said and huffed. All I could do was laugh. I kept laughing as Nudge continued. **I shouldn't have given that much blood, but Fang needed even more, and it was the best I could do. Now he was in surgery.**

** I made my way down the hall to the waiting room, which was crowded – but not with bird kids. **"And then you guys were kidnapped," Ella said with a deep frown.

"Keep frowning, and you'll get worry lines on your forehead," Nudge told her.

"Besides, we're alright," Angel said helpfully.

** Quickly I walked the perimeter, in case they were under chairs or something. _No flock._**

** My head swiveled as I checked one hall and then another. I was already weak and kind of nauseated, and the fear of losing my flock made me feel like hurling was seconds away.**

** "They're down here." A short, dark-haired nurse was speaking to me. I locked my gaze on her.**

** She handed me a small plastic bottle of apple juice and a muffin. "Eat this," she told me. "It'll help with the dizziness. **Mom smiled. **Your . . . siblings are in room seven." She pointed down the hall.**

** "Thanks," I muttered, not knowing yet if I meant it.**

** Room 7 had a solid door, and I opened it without knocking. Four pairs of worried bird-kid eyes looked up at me. Relief – however temporary – made my knees weak.**

** "You must be Max," said a voice.**

** My stomach seized up. _On, no,_ I thought, taking in the guy's dark gray suit, the short, regulation hair, the almost invisible earpiece of his comm system. _Eraser?_ It was getting harder to tell with each new batch. The guy lacked a feral gleam in his eyes – but I wasn't going to let down my guard.**

** "Please, sit down," said another voice.**

"Oh, man," Gazzy said, reaching eagerly for the book. "I loved messing with those guys! Hand me the book already, Nudge! I wanna read!"

*****an*****

**Whew boy! So I'm sitting here, in the car, on the way home from vacation, when I realize, _hey, I haven't updated MRAOA – Part II in over a month! What the hay? Why am I not working on that?_ Then I realized: I have my computer. And what better way to spend the long, long, long car ride, then by writing? **

**So yeah. Here it is. I'm so, so terribly sorry about the long wait. I hope it meets/exceeds your expectations. : ) **

**Until next time, which will hopefully not be NEARLY as long,**

**~Jezabel Raewin**


	6. Chapters 13, 14, and 15

_Disclaimer:I do not own Maximum Ride, all rights belong to James Patterson._

The Gasman was practically bouncing up and down as he started to read, **Chapter 13**

**There were three of them, two men and a woman, looking very governmenty, sitting around a fake-wood conference table. **

** Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy and Angel were also sitting there, with plastic cafeteria trays of food in front of them. I realized that none of them had touched their food, despite the fact that they must be starving, and I was so proud of their caution that tears almost started in my eyes.**

** "Who are you?" I asked. Amazingly, my voice was calm and even. Points to me. **"Of course you were calm, you're always pretty well strung when dealing with unexpected people... when you're not threatening to kill them," said Nudge.

"Who says 'well strung?'" I asked.

"She's giving you a compliment, and all you pick out of that is 'well strung?'" Fang asked. I shrugged.

** "We're from the Federal Bureau of Investigation," one man said, reaching out to hand me his business card. It had a little federal seal and everything. Not that that meant squat. "And we're on your side. We just became aware that you were having some trouble here, and we came to see if we could help." **"Somehow," Ella said, "I just don't trust him." I shrugged.

"Annoying, but altogether harmless," I said with a shrug, making Ella wrinkle her eyebrows.

** He sounded so **_**sincere.**_

** "How nice of you!" I said, sinking into a chair before I fainted. "But aren't most people in a hospital, uh, **_**having some trouble**_**? I doubt the FBI comes calling on them. So what do you want with us?"**

** I saw one agent stifle a grin, and their eyes all met for a second.**

** The first man, Dean Mickelson, according to his card, smiled ruefully. "We know you've been through a lot, Max. And we're sorry that . . . Nick got hurt. You're in a bad spot here and we can help."**

** I was really tired and needed to think. **"'Need a minute? Eat a Twix!" Gazzy said in his best commercial voice. I didn't get it. As I looked around the room, only Angel was laughing.

"Really? No one but my mind-reading sister?" he sighed, then continued reading.

**My flock was watching me, and I could smell their hot breakfasts from where I sat. "Angel," I said, "give Total some of your food and see if he keels over. If he doesn't, you all can go ahead and eat." **"So kind, Max," Ella said, rubbing a seething Total's ears. Thankfully, he stayed silent.

** As if he knew his name, Total leaped up onto a chair next to Angel and wagged his tail. Angel hesitated – she didn't want to take a chance.**

** "Look," said the female agent. She stood up and took a bite of Angel's scrambled eggs.**

** The other two agents followed her lead, sampling the three other trays. Just then there was a tap on the door, and a younger agent handed in a fifth tray, for me. An agent took a bite off my plate, then set the tray on the table. **

** We watched the agents with interest, waiting to see if they would suddenly clutch their throats and fall gasping to the floor.**

** They didn't.**

** "Okay, dig in, guys," I said, and the flock fell on their food like, um, Erasers. **

** Gazzy was done first – he'd practically inhaled his. "Can I have maybe two more trays?" he asked. **"Don't look at me that way," he muttered, sensing the glance that Fang and Ella sent his way. "Hospital food may not taste real good, but it wasn't very filling, and I was starving, and -"

"We get it!" Angel and Nudge said in unison. He huffed, and kept reading.

** Startled, Dean nodded and went to give the order.**

** "So, how are you here to help us?" I said between bites. "How did you know we were here?" **"Stupid chip," I muttered and Fang rubbed my arm.

** "We'll answer all your questions," said the other guy. "But we need you to answer some questions too. We thought it might be easier if we went one-on-one – less distracting. If you're done eating, we can move into here."**

** He opened a door behind him leading into a larger conference room. Several more agents were milling around, and they stopped talking to look at us.**

** "You're not separating us," I said. **

** "No, just separate tables," said the woman. "All in the same room, see?" **"That was quite smart," mom said, her brow furrowing.

** I groaned inwardly. When was the last time we had slept? Was it only two days ago we were escaping through the sewer tunnels in New York? Now Fang was under the knife, we were ****surrounded by God knows who these people really were, and I didn't see a way out of it. Not without leaving Fang behind. Which I wouldn't do.**

** Sighing, I pushed away my empty tray and nodded to the others.**

** Let the questioning begin.**

"Awe, man," Gazzy said as he passed the book begrudgingly toward Angel. "I wanted the questioning one."

**Chapter 14,** Angel read with a smile.

"**And what's your name, sweetie?" **

** "Ariel," said Angel.**

** "Okay, Ariel. Have you ever heard of anyone named Jeb Batchelder?"**

** The agent held up a photograph, and Angel looked at it. Jeb's familiar face looked back at her, and it hurt her heart.** Jeb's familiar face looked touched, and ashamed.

** "No," she said.**

** "Um, okay . . . can you tell me what your relationship is to Max?"**

** "She's my sister. You know, because of the missionaries. Our parents."**

** "Okay, I see. And where did you get your dog?"**

** "I found him in the park." Angel fidgeted and looked over at Max. She thought, **_**Okay, enough questions. You can go.**_

__**The agent sitting across from her paused and looked blankly at the notes she was writing.**

** "Uh – I guess that's enough questions," the agent said, looking confused. "You can go."**

** "Thanks," said Angel, slipping out of her chair. She snapped her fingers for Total, and he trotted after her.**

"That was surprisingly painless," Ella said.

"**And how do you spell that?" the agent asked.**

** "Captain, **Iggy, mom, Jeb, and Ella laughed, all immediately knowing it was Gasman. Fang shook his head with a slight smile. **like the captain of a ship," the Gasman explained. "And then Terror, you know, T-E-R-O-R."**

** "You're name is Captain Terror." **

** "That's right," the Gasman said, shifting in his chair. He glanced at Max, who was speaking very quietly to her agent. "Are you really FBI?"**

** The agent smiled briefly. "Yes. How old are you?"**

** "Eight. How old are you?"**

** The agent looked startled. "Uh . . . um, you're kind of tall for an eight-year-old, aren't you?"**

** "Uh-huh. We're all tall. And skinny. And we eat a lot. When we can get it."**

** "Yes, I see. Tell me . . . Captain, have you ever seen anything like this?" The agent held up a blurry black-and-white photo of an Eraser, half-morphed.**

** "Gosh, no," said the Gasman, opening his blue eyes wide. "What **_**is**_** that?"**

** The agent seemed at a loss for words. **Gazzy guffawed, "I _loved_ messing with him!"

"**And you're blind?"**

** "Uh-huh," Iggy said, trying to sound bored.**

** "Were you born that way?"**

** "No." **

** "How did you become blind, uh, Jeff, is it?"**

** "Yeah, Jeff. Well, I looked directly at the sun, you know, the way the always tell you not to. If only I had listened."** Fang snorted. I laughed. Iggy grinned.

"**And then I had, like, three cheeseburgers, and they were awesome you know? And those fried pie things? Those apple pies? They're really great. Have you ever tried them?" Nudge looked hopefully at the woman sitting across from her. **"Oh, the poor woman," Mom said and Ella laughed. Jeb smiled fondly.

** "Uh, I don't think so. Can you spell your name for me, sweetie?"**

** "Uh-huh. It's K-R-Y-S-T-A-L. I like my name. It's pretty. What's your name?"**

** "Sarah. Sarah McCauley."**

** "Well, that's an okay name too. DO you wish it was something different? Like, sometimes I wish my name was kind of fancier, you know? Like – Cleopatra. Or Marie-Sophie-Therese. Did you know that the queen of England has, like, six names? Her names is Elizabeth Alexandra Mary. Her last name is Windsor, But she's so famous she just signs her name 'Elizabeth R,' and everyone knows who it is. I'd like to be that famous someday. I would just sign 'Krystal.'"**

** The agent was silent for a moment, then she seemed to recover herself. "Have you ever heard of a place called the School?" she asked. "We think it's in California. Have you ever been to California?"**

** Nudge looked thoughtfully at the ceiling. "California? Like, surfers and movie stars and earthquakes? No. I'd like to go. Is it pretty?" Her large brown eyes looked innocently at the agent.**

"**You can call me Agent Mickelson," he told me with a smile. "What about you? Is Max short for something? Maxine?"**

** "No, Dean. It's just Max." **"Ever the cooperative team player, eh, Max?"

** He blinked once, then referred back to his notes. "I see. Now, Max, I think we both know your parents aren't missionaries."**

** I opened my eyes wide. "No? Well, for God's sake, don't tell them. They'd be crushed. Thinking they're doing the Lord's work and all."**

** Dean looked at me, I dunno, as if a hamster had just snarled at him. He tried another tack. "Max, we're looking for a man named Jeb Batchelder. DO you have any knowledge of his whereabouts?" The agent held up a picture of Jeb, and my heart constricted. For a second I was torn: give that lying, betraying jerk up to the FBI, which would be fun, or keep my mouth shut about anything important, which would be smart.**

** I shook my head regretfully. "Never seen him."**

** "Have you ever been to Colorado?"**

** I frowned. "Is that one of those square ones, in the middle?"**

** I saw Dean take a deep breath.**

** Quickly I glanced around. Angel was on the floor by the door, eating my muffin, sharing it with Total. Iggy's and Nudge's agents were conferring, whispering behind some papers, and Iggy and Nudge lounged in their chairs. Nudge was looking around curiously. I hoped she was memorizing escape routs. The Gasman got up, cheerfully said"Bye" to his agent, and went over to Angel.**

** "Max, we want to help you," Dean said quietly. "But you've got to help us too. Fair is fair."** "Oh, boy," Ella said. "Here comes Maximum 'Hard-head' Ride." Fang chuckled.

** I stared at him. That was the funniest thing I'd heard in days. **

** "You're kidding, right? **_**Please **_**tell me you have a stronger motive for me than 'fair is fair.' Life isn't **_**fair**_**, Dean." My voice strengthened, and I leaned forward, closer to the agent's impassive face. "Nothing is fair, **_**ever. **_**That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. I need to help you because **_**fair is fair?**_** Try 'I need you to help me so I won't rip out your spine and beat you with it.' I **_**might **_**respond to that. **_**Maybe.**_**" **"Oh, stop your laughing," I said with a sigh.

** Dean's jaw clenched, and two pink splotches appeared on his cheeks. I got the feeling that he was more mad at himself than at me.** "Poor kid," Fang said. "Probably didn't know what hit him."

** "Max," he began, his voice tense, but was interrupted.**

** "Thank you, Dean," said a woman's voice. "I'll take over from here."** "Anne," the flock all said together, with mixed emotions. Angel passed the book softly to my mom whose eyes absorbed everything in the room and somehow continued to read in a calm manner. That's right, cause she's awesome.

**Chapter 15 **She read.

**Dean straightened up and smoothed his expression. The new woman gave him a friendly smile and waited.**

** She was blond – I couldn't tell how old. She had the sort of professional polish and attitude of a major-network news anchor. She was pretty, actually. **

** Dean gathered up his files, nodded at me, then went to confer with another agent. The new woman sat down across from me.**

** They're all kind of full of hot air," she whispered behind her hand.**

** I was startled into a grin. **"I think Anne is the only one other than _you_ Doctor M that Max actually turned civil for," Angel supplied with a bittersweet smile.

"What happened to Anne?" Ella wondered.

"Well..."

"Just don't," I said, a little harshly. "You'll see for yourself."

"Oh, okay. . ."

** She reached her hand across the table for me to shake.**

** "My name is Anne Walker," she said. "And yes, I'm one of Them. I'm the one they call in when everything goes kablooey."**

** "Have things gone kablooey?" I asked politely.**

** She gave a short laugh. "Uh, **_**yeah**_**," she said in a "duh" tone of voice. "When we get a call from a hospital saying they've got at least two and possibly six previously unknown recombinant DNA life-forms and one of them is gravely injured, then, yes, I think we can safely say that things have gone kablooey with a captial 'kuh.'" **"Eeyup." the Gasman said.

** "Oh," I said. "Gee, we sound so important."**

** One side of her mouth twitched. "Uh-huh. Why the surprise? Hasn't anyone ever told you you were important?" **"Touchy subject," Angel muttered softly.

_**Jeb. **_**The one word shocked my senses, and I went into total shutdown so I wouldn't start ****bawling like the goofy recombinant life-form that I am. Jeb had made me feel important, once upon a time. He'd made me feel smart, strong, capable, special, important . . . you name it.** I'd forgotten about writing that down. . . I didn't lower my head, or look at Jeb, or do anything to acknowledge his presence in the room save for staring blankly ahead, only aware of Fang's presence beside me.

_He still loves us, Max, _Angel told me silently. _He still loves _you._ And he wants more than anything in the world to make it up to you._

A thought occurred to me. I thought she couldn't read his mind. Like he was blank.

_Oh, _she said/thought/whatever. _I don't know, he just comes in now. Maybe it was something he did at the school . . . ? _

Whatever. I focused on the next words that caused an almost inaudible sigh from Jeb.** Lately, though, he mostly made me feel blinding rage and a stomach-clenching sense of betrayal.**

** "Look," I said coolly, "we're in a tough spot here. I know it and you know it. One of my fl- brothers is hurt, and we need help. Just tell me what I have to do so we can get that help, and then we'll be on our merry way." **"Yeah, that was_ real _merry when we left," Iggy remarked. I rolled my eyes and mentally slapped his arm.

** I shot a quick glance at the flock. They were sitting together, eating bagels and watching me. Gazzy cheerfully held up a bagel to show he was saving one for me.**

** Anne's sympathetic look set my teeth on edge. She leaned over the table so she wouldn't be overheard. "Max, I'm not gonna tell you a bunch of crap," she said, surprising me again. "Like the crap you're giving us about your parents being missionaries. We both know that isn't true. And we both know that the FBI isn't in the business of just helping people out because they're so wonderful and special. This is the deal: We've heard about you. Rumors have been filtering into the intelligence community for years about a hidden lab producing viable recombinant life-forms. **

** "But it's never been verified, and people have always dismissed it as urban-legend stuff. Needless to say, the very possibility that it could be true – well, we've got people assigned to finding out and cataloging info, hearsay, or suspicion about you. You and your family." **"Sounds like a fun job," Ella muttered and I snickered.

"Sure," I said. "If you wanna spend your time scanning news reports and 'inquirer' magazines for a living."

** Wait till she found out about the Erasers.**

** Anne took a breath and sat back, keeping her eyes on me. "So you see, we consider you important. We'd like to know everything about you. But **_**more**_** important, if the stories are true, then our entire country's safety could be at stake – if your so-called family were to get into the wrong hands. You don't know your own power."**

** She let that sink in for a moment, then smiled ruefully. "How about we make a trade? You give us a chance to learn about you – in a nonpainful, noninvasive ways – and we'll give Nick the best medical care available and the rest of you a safe place to stay. You can rest up, eat, Nick can get better, and then you can decide what to do from there."**

** I felt like a starving mouse staring at a huge hunk of cheese. **"Aren't you kind of part 'bird of prey?'" Ella asked.

"Your trains of thought... they confuse me," Angel said, and nothing but laughter was a decent response.

** Set right in the middle of an enormous, Max-sized trap. I put a look of polite disinterest on my face. "And I believe that this is all straight up because . . ."**

** "It would be great if I could offer you guarantees, Max," said Anne. "But I can't – not anything that you would believe, I mean, come on." She shrugged. "A written contract? My word of honor? A really sincere promise from the head of the FBI?" **

** We both laughed. Those wacky agents.**

** "It's just – you don't have a lot of choices here, Max. Not right now. I'm sorry."**

** I stared at the tabletop and thought. The horrible thing was, she was right. With Fang in such bad shape, she had us over a barrel. The best thing I could do was accept her offer of shelter and care for Fang, bide my time, and work out an escape later. Silently I swore a whole lot. Then I looked up.**

** "Well, say I accepted. Where's this safe place you're dangling in front of me?"**

** She looked at me. If she was surprised that I was going along with it, she didn't show it.**

** "My house," she said. **"Well this sounds like a giant can of worms that will blow up in your faces. . . ." Ella said.

Sighs echoed around the room.

"My turn to read," Jeb said, taking the book from my mom.

_**Next time on **_**Maximum Ride All Over Again – Part II**

"_**If nothing goes wrong, he should be okay. He needs to take it easy for maybe three weeks."**_

_** Which meant probably about six days.**_

"_**Were you just planning on hanging out in his room?"**_

"_**The Eraser was me."**_

**AN:**

**Not nearly as long a wait, was it? I told you guys I'd try. (insert look of hopeful-sheepish-bambii eyes here)**

**Anyway, review and tell me your favorite agent interrogation scene and I'll tell you mine in the next chapter. **

**Until next time, **

**Jezi Raewin**


	7. Chapters 16, 17, and 18

Disclaimer:_ I do not own Maximum Ride. The whole series belongs to James Patterson._

Jeb opened the book and promptly began to read, an eager look on his face, I guess waiting to hear how I dealt with the wonderful stressfulness that still had yet to be resolved.

**Chapter 16**

**Fang came out of surgery almost two hours later. I was waiting outside the OR, wound tighter than a rubber ball.** "Germany was worse," Angel said and Nudge laughed.

"Remember how she walked back and forth talking to herself in the dungeon?"

"You know, we haven't gotten that far yet," Ella interrupted. With a smile, Jeb continued.

** The doctor I'd talked to came out, still in his green scrubs. I wanted to grab the front of his shirt, throw him against a wall, get some answers. **"You should have done that," Iggy said, and the Gasman agreed. I rolled my eyes. **But I'm trying to outgrow that kind of thing.**

** "Ah, yes, Max is it?"**

** "Yeah. Max it is." I waited tensely. If the unthinkable had happened, I'd snag the kids and make a run for it.**

** "Your brother Nick – it was a little dicey for a while. We gave him several units of blood substitute, and it brought his blood pressure up to a safe range."**

** My hands were clenching and unclenching. It was all I could do to stand there and focus on the words.**

** "He didn't go into cardiac arrest," the doctor said. "We were able to patch up his side, stop all the hemorrhaging. A main artery had been hit, and one of his . . . air sacs."**

** "So what's he like now?" I forced my breathing to calm, tried to shut down my fight-or-flight response. Which in my case is, you know, _literal._**

** "He's holding steady," the doctor said, looking tired and amazed. "If nothing goes wrong, he should be okay. He needs to take it easy for maybe three weeks."** "So, what, four days?" Ella asked, causing everyone in the room to laugh.

"Yeah, basically," Fang said with a grin.

** Which probably meant about six days, gen our incredibly fast healing and regenerative strengths.**

** But jeez. Six days was a long time.**

** "Can I see him?"**

** "Not till he comes out of recovery," the doctor said. "Maybe another forty minutes. Now, I'm hoping you can fill me in on some physiological stuff. I noticed -"**

** "Thank you, Doctor," said Anne Walker, coming up behind me.**

** "I mean, I wanted to know -," the doctor began, looking at me.**

** "I'm sorry," said Anne. "These kids are tired and need to rest. One of my colleagues can answer any questions you might have." **"That'll blow over well," mom said with a smile. Then saw the look on my face and that smile quickly turned to a frown.**  
"Excuse me, but your colleagues don't know jack about us," I reminded Anne through clenched teeth.**

** The doctor looked irritated, but he nodded and went back down the hall. **

** Anne smiled at me. "We're trying to keep your existence somewhat quiet," she said. "Until we're certain you're safe. But that's great news about Nick."**

** We walked to the waiting area. The flock jumped up when they saw me. I smiled and gave them a thumbs-up. Nudge whooped and slapped highfives with Gazzy, and Angel ran over to hug me hard. I swung her up and held her tight.**

** "He's gonna be fine," I confirmed.**

** "Can we see him?" Iggy asked. **"Incoming blind joke in 3, 2, 1," Iggy said, making Ella giggle and everyone else roll their eyes.

** "Ig, I hate to break this to you, but you're blind," I said, my relief making me tease him.** "Psh," Iggy interrupted. "Your relief had nothing to do with that. You never pass up a chance to tease the poor blind guy."** "However, in a little while you can go listen to him breathe and _maybe_ talk to him." **

** Iggy gave me a combination smile-scowl, which he's extraordinarily good at. **"Like you don't enjoy being made fun of," Fang said, causing the same smile-scowl to show and everyone to laugh.

** "H, everyone," said Anne. I'd forgotten she was right behind me. "Max may have told you about me – I'm Anne Walker, from the FBI. Has Max filled you in on the agreement we made?"**

** She was smart:** _Of course she was smart, _I thought to myself. _In with stupid Itex as far as she was, yes: She was smart._** If I hadn't already told them about it, she'd just confirmed that it was a done deal. **

** "Yes," said Angel, looking at her."We're going to stay at your house for a teensy little while."**

** "That's right," said Anne, smiling back.**

** "Us and Total," Angel said to make sure.**

** "Total?"**

** "My dog." Angel pointed under her chair, where Total was curled up, head poised neatly on his paws. **

** "How did you get a dog in here?" Anne asked, amazed.** Mom shook her head, and Jeb chuckled.

** I didn't want to delve into that too much. "Yes! So, well, as soon as F- Nick is somewhat mobile, **"Is this where _Fnick_ came into play?" Fang asked, a smile on his face. I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," I said.

**we'll go to Anne's house, rest up, get Nick up to a hundred percent. Cool?"**

** The others nodded with varying levels of enthusiasm.**

** "Fnick?" Iggy muttered, smirking.**

** I ignored him.**

** "Actually, Nick won't be mobile for at least a week," Anne said. "So we can all head to my place today, and he can come out when he's ready." **"So how long did you stay in the hospital, really?" Ella asked, an eyebrow raised. "Cause we all know that you didn't go with her then and there."

** I saw Gazzy blink and Nudge frown.**

** "No," I said to Anne. "That wasn't what I agreed to. We're not leaving Nick here alone."**

** "He'll have doctors and nurses and two agents at his door. Round the clock," Anne promised.**

** I crossed my arms over my chest. "No. Two of your agents would be a snack for an Eraser."**

** Anne ignored my joke. Not surprisingly, since she probably didn't have a clue what I was talking about. **_More like she knew they wouldn't get through them without her approval, _I thought to myself.

** "It will be more comfortable for you at my house," Anne said. "Much better for you."**

** "But not much better for Nick," I said.**

** "But – Nick can't be moved," Anne said. "Were you planning to just hang out in his room?" **"Precisely," Nudge said. "You know, those yoga mats were probably the best thing we'd slept on since we'd left the E-House."

Jeb tossed the book to me, and I read with a smile, thinking that the hardest part of _this_ book at least were behind me.

**Chapter 17**

**The girls can have the bed," Gazzy said. "Iggy and I can sleep on the floor." **Ella laughed, trying to picture the boys sharing a bed. **  
"Excuse me, sexist piglet?" I said, raising my eyebrows. "How about the two smallest people share the bed 'cause they'll _fit_. That would be you and Angel."**

** "Yeah," said Nudge with narrowed eyes. "Like, I'm too much of a cream puff to sleep on the floor?" **

** Gazzy got his stubborn face on, so I walked across the room before he could start arguing. Fang's hospital room was a double, but the other bed was empty. The two smaller kids would sleep in it, and the rest of us would make do.**

** "Of course, the prince gets his own bed all to himself," I said to Fang. **"Prince?" Nudge asked with a laugh.

** "That's right," Fang said hazily. "The prince has a gaping side wound."**

** He still looked like death, extremely pale and groggy. He couldn't eat, so he had an IV drip. Iggy had given him another pint of bird-kid blood, and that had helped. **

** "Well, they sewed you up," I said. "You're pretty gape-free at this point."**

** "When do I get out of here?"**

** "They say a week."**

** "So, like, tomorrow?" he said.**

** "That's what I'm thinking."**

** "So, Fnick, can I change the channel?" Iggy asked. "There's a game on." **"Oh, come on," Iggy said. "I can feel you staring at me, It was a good game!"

"You only wanted to hear the cheerleaders," Gazzy muttered.

Everyone laughed as Iggy opened and closed his mouth looking for a response.

** "Make yourself at home, _Figgy_," Fang said.**

** We crashed early and hard, given what we'd been through in the last twenty-four hours. By nine o'clock I was listening to the flock sleeping all around me. The agent guys had come up with some, like, yoga mats for us, and they weren't bad. Especially if you've logged time on rocky cave floors and concrete ledges in subway tunnels. **"Definitely better than subway tunnel ledges," Nudge said and Angel and Gaz nodded in agreement.

** Now it was quiet, and I was trying to shut my brain down. _Voice? Any last-minute remarks you want to get off your chest before I crash?_**_ "_You _asked_ it?" Ella asked. "I thought you didn't like talking to the Voice. . ."

"It was supposed to be a rhetorical question . . ."

** _You chose to stay with Fang._**

**_ No duh,_ I replied silently. What Gazzy had said, back on the beach . . . the little twerp was right. **"Hah! Told ya so," Gazzer said huffily.

"Gasman," I said, using my no-nonsense tone,probably sensing what I was about to say.

"Yes, Max?"

"What have I told you about bragging?"

"Only do it if you're up against a wall?"

I rolled my eyes, as mom and Ella laughed. "Sounds about right," I said before continuing to read. **I shouldn't split us up again, even when it seemed safer to do it. We did best when we were all together. The whole family together.**

** _Family is extremely important,_ said the Voice. _Didn't you tell me that once?_**

**_ Yep,_I thought. _That's why we're going to find our parents as soon as we get out of here._**

**I took a deep breath, trying to relax. I was completely exhausted, but my brain was racing. Every time I closed my eyes, all sorts of images flashed through my mind – like buildings exploding, a mushroom cloud, ducks caught in oil slicks, mountains of trash, nuclear power plants. Waking nightmares. **"How on earth did you cope with everything so well?" Ella asked, shaking her head. "It sounds like you had those images in your head nearly every night..."

I glanced at Fang and let her figure it out for herself that I didn't really cope with it well for long. My hand twitched a little as I read again.

** So I sat up, eyes open, but it wasn't much better. I had starting feeling bad earlier, but hadn't told anyone. I had a headache, not a grenade-type headache, where my brain felt like it was being splattered against the inside of my skull, but just a regular headache. Fortunately the grenade-type headaches were much fewer and farther between than they had been. My theory was that they were my brain getting used to sharing office space with my rude and uninvited guest: my Voice. At any rate, I was incredibly glad they were on leave of absence lately. **"Come to think of it," I said. "I haven't really had . . . _any_ since then." Then I prayed, _Oh please let me not have just jinxed that._

"Then your theory was most likely correct," said Jeb thoughtfully.

** This wasn't like that. I was hot; my skin was burning. I felt like adrenaline was pouring into my system, making me so jumpy I couldn't stand it.**

** Were the Erasers tracking the chip in my arm that I'd seen in that X-ray at Dr. Martinez's office so many days ago? How did they keep finding us? The eternal question.**

** I glanced at Total, sleeping on the bed with Angel and Gazzy. He was on his back, paws in the air. Was he chipped? Were they tracking him now?**

** Ugh. I felt so hot and twitchy and sick. I wanted to lie down in snow, eat snow, rub it over my skin. **"That's a first," Iggy said. "I thought you hated the snow."

"I'm not even going to answer that question right now."

**I fantasized about throwing open the window and taking off into the cool night air. I imagined flying back to Dr. Martinez and her daughter, Ella, the only human friends I'd known. Dr. Martinez would know what to do. **"At this point, honestly, I'm not sure I wouldn't been able to tell you what to do," Mom said, thoughtfully. "Though I would have told you to take deep breaths, close your eyes, and try to think of something else."

**My heart was pounding so fast it felt like a staccato drumroll in my chest.**

** I stood up and picked my way quietly over sleeping bodies to the small sink in one wall. I turned on the cold water and let it run over my hands. Leaning down, I splashed my face again and again. It felt good, and I wished I could stand under an icy shower. _Please don't let me get sick,_ I prayed. _I can't get sick. I can't get Fang sick._**

**I don't know how long I hung over the sink, letting water trickle over my neck. Finally I thought maybe I could try to sleep again, and I straightened up to dry my face.**

** And almost screamed.**

** I whirled around, but the room was quiet. I whipped back to stare in the mirror again, and it was still there: the Eraser.**

** I blinked rapidly. What the _h_ was going on? The Eraser in the mirror blinked rapidly too.**

** The Eraser was me.** I shook my self and gave the book to Fang.

"So, what, you turned into an Eraser? I thought the transformations were supposed to be painful?" Ella asked. I shrugged, letting Fang read.

**Chapter 18**

**In an instant, cold sweat coated my forehead and the back of my neck.**

** I swallowed, and the Eraser Max in the mirror swallowed.**

** I opened my mouth and saw the long, sharp canines. But when I touched them with my finger, they felt small, smooth, normal. I touched my face and felt smooth skin, through the mirror showed me totally morphed.**

** I remembered how ill I had felt, hot and heart-poundy. Oh, God. What was this all about? Had I just discovered a new "skill," like Angel reading minds, Gazzy able to imitate any voice, Iggy identifying people by feeling their fingerprints? _Had I just developed the skill of turning into __an Eraser, our worst enemy?_**

** I felt sick with revulsion and dread. I glanced guiltily around to make sure no one could see me like this. I didn't even know what they would see if they woke up. I _felt_ normal. I _looked_ like an Eraser. Kind of a cuter, blonder, Pekingesey Eraser. **There was a slight smile in Fang's voice as he read that. It told me, _Hah, I knew it._

** _Respect and honor your enemies, _said my Voice. _Always. Know your friends well; know your enemies even better._**

**_ Oh, please,_ I begged silently. _Please let this be just a horrible lesson and not reality. I promise, promise, promise to know my enemies better. Just let me lose the muzzle._**

_** Your greatest strength is your greatest weakness, Max.**_

**I stared at the mirror. Huh?**

** _Your hatred of Erasers gives you the power to fight to the death. But that hatred also blinds you to the big picture: the big picture of them, of you, of everything in your life._** "I still fail to see what that taught me," I muttered mainly to Jeb, but he didn't respond.

_** Um. Let me think about that and get back to you. Okay?**_

**Ow. I winced and pressed my fingers to my temples, trying to rub the pain away. I touched my face one last time to make sure it really was smooth, and then I went and looked at Fang.**

** He was still breathing, sleeping. He looked better. Not so embalmed. He was going to be all right. I sighed, trying to release my pain and fear, then I curled up on my mat next to Nudge. I closed my eyes but didn't really have any hope of sleeping.**

** I lay quietly in the darkness. The only thing that made me feel better was listening to the even, regular, calm breathing of my sleeping flock.** Fang handed the book to Ella and she took it. "So . . . you weren't an Eraser? Gods, I'm confused," she said. Looking at the next chapter.

"It was an illusion, Ella," I said. "One that scared the feathers off me. But thankfully it was just an illusion."

"Okay," she said, "if you say so."

**AN:**

**Well howdy folks! I hope everyone is having a marvelous summer. Me? I'm suffering from intense sunburn... Lesson learned: when reading books while swimming, change up your position from time to time, and; best yet, Never Forget the _SUNSCREEN_. **

** Seriously, I can't lift my hands over my head very well, and, it – I-T-C-H-E-S. **

**Welp, I hope you enjoyed this chapter of MRAOA Part II, uhm, in your reply, tell me what you would do if Max, or your favorite character, turned into an Eraser forever. **

**~Jezi -Sunburnt- Raewin**


End file.
